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Conor Cruise O'Brien, an Irish
diplomat, politician, man of letters and public intellectual who staked
out an independent position for Ireland in the United Nations
and, despite his Catholic origins, championed the rights of
Protestants in Northern Ireland has. He was 91

Once described by the social critic Christopher Hitchens
as "an internationalist, a wit, a polymath and a provocateur," Mr.
O'Brien was a rare combination of scholar and public servant who
applied his erudition and stylish pen to a long list of causes, some
hopeless, others made less so by his combative reasoning. When called
upon, he would put down his pen and enter the fray, more often than not
emerging bruised and bloodied.

As a diplomat, he helped chart Ireland's course as an independent,
anticolonialist voice at the United Nations and played a critical role
in the United Nations intervention in Congo in 1961.

DUBLIN -- Jason Bissett, 30, sat on a busy pedestrian bridge that
arches over the River Liffey, a hood pulled tight around his head and
his hand out.

"Can you spare any change? Please. Can you spare any change?" he
asked softly, aware that police now consider "aggressive" begging a
crime. Last month, the government announced a crackdown on hostile
panhandlers, introducing the first new laws against begging since the
Potato Famine in the 1840s. A conviction could lead to as much as a
month in jail or a 700 euro fine, about $976, according to a Justice
Ministry statement, which said the final language of the measure will
be published soon.